


Heredity Put Into Practice; Or, The More Things Change

by Purrs



Series: Heterodynes Do As They Please [6]
Category: Girl Genius (Webcomic)
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 08:05:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16280762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purrs/pseuds/Purrs
Summary: An unexpected arrival.





	Heredity Put Into Practice; Or, The More Things Change

Bill and Barry are, in all likelihood, dead. No one’s seen hide or hair of them in far too long. The Other seems to have vanished too, which implies one of those showdowns no one comes back from.

They’ve been Euphrosynia’s anchor for twelve years. She managed to become accustomed to the nineteenth century, and she did so fairly quickly if she says so herself, but she’s still reminded at every turn that the world is different now than the world she spent the first fifty-one years of her life in. Everything is so different. But family—family is the constant that she can hold fast to. Even if they are. No. Even if they _were_ stickler goody-goody family. Even if they have— _had_ silly ideas about ‘morality’ and ‘doing the right thing’, silly ideas that she has to admit were nonetheless all too infectious. Even if one of them went and took an enemy for a spouse, which Euphrosynia “Seduce the Storm King” Heterodyne really would have had absolutely zero problem with except for how he went and _trusted_ the woman.

(Well. Maybe she was wrong about Lucrezia. Or if she wasn’t, it was a moot point, since no one had heard from the woman since she was kidnapped by the Other. At least the Other is likely also dead.)

The point is, the Heterodyne Boys were family, and that means something. Right now what it means is that all her family is dead.

Bill. Barry. Bludtharst, long ago. Her parents, even longer.

There’s a conclusion to be drawn here, a conclusion about herself. She didn’t really expect this to happen back when it was her and Bludtharst and she was young, she definitely didn’t expect it now when she’s sixty-three with Bill and Barry and (though it was only briefly) little Klaus Barry. Surprisingly, she isn’t sure how much she likes it.

The conclusion is: Euphrosynia is the Heterodyne now.

She stayed out of the Castle while the Boys were still conceivably out there fighting, though of course she still lived in Mechanicsburg. She would never abandon her town, especially not with all the chaos taking place across Europa. But now she moves back in, her and Otilia and her favorite Jägers. The Castle is damaged and most of it doesn’t even recognize her. For that matter, most of it actively tries to kill her. She likes that, it keeps her on her toes while she works to repair the systems. She can make progress quickly, but there’s so _much_ that needs to be done that it still takes a significant amount of time. Five weeks in, the end is in sight.

Euphrosynia is in the library deciding what to tackle next when she hears someone walk up behind her, footsteps metallic. She grins and tilts her head back, tossing her hair and exposing her throat. “Have you finally decided to keep me safe for good, then?” she challenges.

Otilia enters her field of view with a laugh. “That depends, are you planning on pillaging any towns today? Zdranga, perhaps?”

“Not today, I don’t think. Ask me again tomorrow.”

“My Lady, we have an intruder,” the Castle interjects. “You want I should kill them?”

She hums, deliberating. “No, send them here.”

The Castle doesn’t respond. She’s just starting to be concerned when it says, “He’s on his way, Mistress Euphrosynia.”

She frowns at the name. The Castle hasn’t called her that since she took over, since Bill and—

She dares to hope.

The intruder enters the library the mundane way, walking through the door rather than being dumped in a heap by the Castle. He’s a broad man, his features obscured by his hood but still recognizable in a way that makes her breath catch in her throat. He’s cradling something tight against his chest.

“Barry?” Euphrosynia says, and then, “Lord Heterodyne?”

It is indeed Barry, but he shakes his head. “There’s someone else who has a better claim to the title than I do.”

“Bill’s alive?”

He shakes his head again.

“Barry, you know that I’m not as—”

“I don’t mean you,” he says, turning the bundle in his arms until Euphrosynia can see chubby cheeks and a burst of golden hair.

“Oh,” Otilia breathes, and rushes to hover over the child.

Euphrosynia can hardly believe this is real. “Is it...”

“She’s Bill’s,” Barry confirms. “Her name is Agatha.”

“She’ll need to be confirmed by the Castle.”

“When she’s older,” Otilia says sharply.

Euphrosynia holds out her arms and Barry passes her Agatha, who chooses that moment to wake up. The girl blinks up at her, crinkles her face, and spouts what sounds like meaningless gibberish.

Barry sighs. “Right, she only understands Geisterspeech. I’ve been working on that.”

“She only understands what?”

There’s a lot to catch up on, a lot of painful details for Barry to share. Euphrosynia regrets that time recently when she entertained the possibility that Lucrezia might have been less of a terrible person than she’d thought. Eventually, though, all the revelations are revealed.

Barry stands up. “All right, I’m off.”

“Excuse me?” Euphrosynia’s eyes flash wide. “You only just got here! We all thought you were dead!”

“It’s better if it stays that way,” he says. “The Other may be dead, but many of her allies aren’t, and there are still too many hive engines out there. I have to keep tracking them down.”

“Fine. But only if you take Jägers with you.”

Barry protests, of course he does, he’s never liked the Jägers, but she insists—he’s not going back out alone. She finally manages to persuade him to bring a group of five, though she wishes it were more. He’s _hers_ and she wants him alive. (Bill was _hers_ , too.) He even stays the night. Then, in the morning, he leaves. He says he’ll come back. She certainly hopes so.

Otilia is holding on to a squirming Agatha. Euphrosynia is pretty sure Otilia’s been standing there holding her all night. She raises an eyebrow and the Muse pulls her lips back in something that isn’t quite a smile.

“Is something wrong?” she asks.

Otilia looks down at the toddler in her arms. “I have to protect her and keep her safe.” Her words are clear and clipped.

Euphrosynia’s brow furrows. “Her?”

“She is a Heterodyne Girl too, is she not?” Otilia shows more tooth. “I’m afraid my instructions were rather nonspecific.”

“Oh.” Euphrosynia frowns. “Punch and Judy are in Hufftberg right now, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind taking her in if you’d rather—”

Otilia hesitates, then: “I think that would be best, yes.”

“All right.” She’ll arrange travel there later today. For now, though, she smiles down at her great-great-great-great-great- _great_ -niece, Bill’s daughter, the three-year-old Lady Heterodyne. They’ll probably hide that, if she’s to grow up outside Mechanicsburg. Ah, well.

Euphrosynia wraps an arm around Otilia’s shoulders and leans her weight into the cool cloth and metal of the other woman. She has enough family right here.


End file.
